Fútbol for football
Photo rendering courtesy of HOK
Voters will decide whether or not taxpayers will contribute $60 million to help fund the building of a new Stadium. Voting will take place on April 4.
January 7, 2017
With 29 players in the National Soccer Hall of Fame and over 10 players currently playing in the MLS from St. Louis, the city deserves a top tier professional soccer team. The city has not had a high-level professional franchise since the St. Louis Stars in 1977.
Another big-time professional soccer team would fill the void that the NFL’s Rams left in the hearts of many. St. Louis is, in fact, a sports city. Fans here love to have something, and someone, to root for. With a new team comes new inspiration for many young people. It could give young players new role models to look up to and try to play like them some day.
A new franchise and stadium in the city would open more opportunities for new jobs and new ways to beautify downtown St. Louis as well. It would be another thing families can go to on the weekends to have family time. The stadium proposed by ownership group, SC STL, would accomplish that.
SC STL plans to absorb the city’s third-tier professional team, St. Louis FC. They also want to own the next MLS expansion team if the league decides to expand to St. Louis.
MLS commissioner Don Garber said that St. Louis could acquire a soccer franchise as early as 2020.
“St. Louis has always been an attractive market for MLS on a variety of levels,” Garber said. “Soccer has deep and historic roots in a city that many consider to be the birthplace of the sport in the US.”
St. Louis certainly has a rich history in the sport of soccer. In fact, one of the most shocking upsets in the World Cup history came in 1950 when a U.S. team with five out of its 11 players from St. Louis defeated the English national team nicknamed the “Kings of Football” by a score of 1-0. Additionally, the city also produced its own professional soccer league. It was founded in 1907 and existed until 1938. The St. Louis Soccer League was the first fully professional soccer league in the U.S.
This soccer team in St. Louis will bring excitement and fun to the city. Doing so would not only be recreating history but would also pave the way for a new sports legacy.
